Bank Muscat is acquiring a majority stake in Pakistan's Saudi Pak Commercial Bank (SPC) with Sinthos Capital, International Finance Corporation, Washington and Nomura International.
The consortium has signed the Share Purchase Agreement with Saudi Pak Investment Company for a 68% stake.
Bank Muscat's total stake in the SPC is 35%.
The bank has regulatory approval in Oman.
Approval from the State Bank of Pakistan, the country's banking regulator, is awaited.
The Saudi Pak Commercial Bank was set up in the year 2001 and has a network of 50 branches nationwide with the total assets of $975 million, $700 million in deposits.
Commenting on the acquisition, AbdulRazak Ali Issa, chief executive of BankMuscat said:
"We are very excited about taking our business and services to the country and believe that this new international experience will be of significant value both to the banking industry in Pakistan and to BankMuscat, as it continues to grow into a strong regional bank."
The banking sector in Pakistan has shown significant growth since the onset of banking reforms in 1997. The past five years have seen increasing interest from leading foreign financial institutions such as Standard Chartered, ABN Amro, Temasek and SAMBA, which have made significant investments.
© Gulf Marketing Review 2008
